Basketball

By Djack

Always a tragedy in sports when a young stud player's career is derailed by injuries. It's something we see far too often in sports, yet it's just the nature of the game. When you're playing a game in which you push your body to limit no matter what sport or level you're playing at it's just something that's bound to happen occasionally. When it happens to anyone it's a shame, when it happens to a player that has the potential of being one of the game's greats, it's just an absolute travesty, and a travesty we see far too often. Jabari Parker is latest name to join that list. Sure we've seen great players bounce back from major injuries to return to their former peak performance level, Adrian Peterson might be the greatest example of that, yet it's a rare occurrence to say the least. Most players rehab for what must feel like forever to get back to a level in which they can compete, although they usually just become a shell of their former self. When a player re-injure's them-self the odds of them returning to their peak level of performance becomes nearly impossible. Derrick Rose is the perfect example of that, and now it seems Jabari Parker is inevitably headed for the same destiny. Jabari Parker never quite reached the elite rank Derrick Rose was once at but that's only because he tore his ACL his rookie season. Just as Jabari was finally becoming the player the Bucks expected him to be when they drafted him, tragedy struck again.

Jabari Parker torn his ACL early into his rookie season, his sophomore season was a year in which Jabari had to regain his conditioning and feel for the game, so his stats weren't quite what they should've been for a player of his caliber. This season all of that was finally behind him, and Jabari Parker was beginning to progress into a young star on the Milwaukee Bucks. Parker had been averaging 20 PPG, 6 RPG, almost 3 APG, and was making his shots at 53% clip. Bucks fans finally had a ton to be excited about with Jabari finally reaching his 2nd overall pick expectations, the Greek Freak being an absolute monster, and a young roster that seemed to have an extremely high ceiling. February 8th, 2017 those high hopes for the future took a big shot to the chin, and Bucks organization continues their recent misfortune. Jabari Parker re-tore his ACL and is now out of basketball for at least 12 months. Missing one of your best players for the rest of this year and the majority of next year is hard enough to swallow as a fan, the reality of the situation is going to be even harder for a fan to swallow.

Jabari Parker isn't just going to miss another full-season of basketball, he's probably never going to reach the paramount of his potential with this recent turn of events. When your body takes on a devastating injury like this not once but twice it's almost impossible to return to peak form. Jabari Parker was proving to be just as good as Andrew Wiggins, the only player picked before him in the 2014 NBA draft, now he'll probably never be put in the same conversation as him when it's all said and done. As a sports fans it's a sad day when you realize a player with such great potential will never get to reach it, and that's exactly what has happened with Jabari Parker. Maybe he'll overcome all the odds and still reach his superstar potential carrying the Bucks franchise for years to come, although I don't think anyone truly believes that at this point. Fairy-Tales in sports rarely happen, who knows though, maybe this will make for a great comeback story one day. That would be an overly optimistic approach to this catastrophe. Bucks fans I feel for you I really do, all you can do now is pray to God this isn't a Brandon Roy situation. Say your prays because Jabari will certainly need them.